Another Date?
by RandomPersonaFanatic
Summary: Akira and Futaba agree to go on a date, but something goes awry before the date begins.


My first fic in a while. First fic this year, in fact. Anyways, I still have finals in one fo the following weeks, so this isn't my comeback. Thanks to the people in the Futaba family for indirectly providing me with ideas for random references to make!

* * *

 **Another Date?**

* * *

 _Ding._

"Eh?"

It was the middle of the night. An insomniac Futaba had been laying on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling in a futile attempt to sleep when her phone rang out. Quietly, she turned her head to the side and sat up, quickly unplugging the phone and opening the IM app. She squinted at the red background and the black icon, indicating that either Akira or an unknown number had been the one to send the message. Due to the darkness and her poor vision, Futaba fumbled around for a minute, eventually finding her glasses and placing them on her head. She read the message:

"Right here, right now, buy one get one free! A new 'Get Smoked' hat is on the market, and it's on fire!"

She sighed. A telemarketer. She had hoped that it would be Akira, or maybe someone who could help her fall asleep, but it was the middle of the night- that would just be getting her hopes up. She held the phone to her face and stared at the screen. After a moment, Futaba opened up one of her contacts and began to compose a message.

"Akira, are you there?"

As she set down her phone, it began to buzz immediately. To her surprise, Akira had responded near instantly to her message.

"Yup."

"Having trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah."

"Have you tried counting sheep?"

"Too tired to do that."

The two began to go back and forth, with Akira proposing ideas to help Futaba sleep and Futaba simply passing them off.

"Way too dark to get up. I might wake Sojiro."

"How about a date?"

"I'd probably be-"

"Wait, a date?"

"Uh-huh."

"Promise me you'll sleep, and I'll take you out to the movies tomorrow."

"Is that a deal?"

"Heck yeah!"

Futaba smiled gently, quickly closing the phone, placing it on the side of her bed, and wrapping herself in her blanket. The phone buzzed a few times before Akira himself went off to bed. After some time, the two fell asleep, albeit at their own paces.

-=(+)=-

Akira stood by the corner, waiting anxiously. He glanced at the clear, blue sky, then at his phone, double-checking the messages he had sent to Futaba the previous night.

'I'll be by the theatre, come by 12, I'll be waiting for you..." He read his texts aloud, hoping that he hadn't missed a crucial piece of information. He pocketed his phone and stood on his toes. Despite his attempt to locate the orange-haired hacker, he didn't see any sort of orange in the crowd in front of him. Akira checked his phone once more.

"It's nearly 12:30 now. I wonder where she is..."

-=(+)=-

"Hello?"

Futaba walked around the empty streets. A few moments ago, she could have sworn that there were enough people walking around to flood the street she lived in, but now, all that remained were empty streets. Newspapers fluttered about the sidewalk, moved by the constant, chilling wind. The stores had their metallic, rusted shutters pulled down, and, despite the fact that it was the middle of a bright, cloudless day, a light rain began to fall. As mist began to form, Futaba looked more carefully and noticed something peculiar.

Green.

It seemed as though her vision was tinted just a little bit green. The sky, the streets, and even the mist had a swampy green tinge to them. When she looked at her shirt, however, it was still pure white.

Futaba walked to the center of the crossroads and stared at where the theatre was meant to be. The doors were locked firmly shut, and only a thick, dark green mist lay behind the glass doors. She looked around, looking for clues as to what was off. Her eyes passed by the crooked stop sign, the ineligible graffiti, the torn movie posters, the cloudless rain, and-

"Wait a second."

Futaba turned back around. "Torn movie posters?" she muttered to herself. The posters themselves were still towering high and in their frame, but three distinct slash marks ran diagonally across each one.

"I'm not in Mementos, right?" She began to fidget nervously, looking around and dreading what may come. The mist and somehow made its way into each street and was now preventing her from seeing past each of the streets. The rain began to fall harder, and, out of the corner of her eye, Futaba saw humanoid shadows within the mist, walking to and fro.

Futaba put her back against the wall, sliding to the ground as she put on her headphones and pressed on them tightly.

"Idon'twannabehereIdon'twannabehereIdon'twanna-"

"-taba?"

The cold pounding of the rain suddenly became louder by tenfold, but the freezing water had stopped falling onto her face. Instead, a familiar, warm hand was tentatively caressing it. She opened her eyes and looked up, straight into the black eyes belonging to an Akira Kurusu.

-=(+)=-

"Futaba? Are you alright?"

After the hacker nodded, Akira quickly helped Futaba back up to her feet, keeping his umbrella overtop her. He glanced around. "The rain started so _suddenly_. Clear skies one moment, and pouring buckets the next."

Futaba clung to Akira's jacket like it was a raft in the middle of the ocean. Despite wearing a warm jacket, her teeth chattered as she spoke. "W-w-when's the movie?"

Akira did his best to hide his frown. "It started a while ago. You've been missing for a few hours, Futaba."

"A f-f-few h-hours?" Futaba replied. "W-what ti-i-ime is it?"

Akira quickly pulled out his phone, glanced at it, then put it back into his pocket. "About 6."

"G-godda-a-amnit." Futaba sneezed. "I-I-I'm so so-o-"

Akira put his hand onto her head and ruffled her hair. "It's fine, it's fine." He looked into Futaba's eyes. "Really."

"A-alright." Futaba sniffled before sneezing once more. "I think I m-might ha-a-ave a cold."

Akira looked up at the clouded sky. "What was the saying again? Feed a cold, starve a fever...?" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You want to head back to Leblanc?"

Futaba nodded in response.

The two walked along the streets, making their way through the winding alleyways and twisting subway. Despite the cold rain, the two made it back to LeBlanc, with Futaba still clutching onto Akira's jacket. In the warm cafe, Akira put his umbrella by the front door and placed in jacket into one of the booths. He motioned for Futaba to sit across from one of the booths as he went over to Sojiro, who was currently cooking a rather large pot of steaming hot curry.

Futaba couldn't hear what her father and boyfriend were talking about, so she resorted to curling up and staring intensely at the center of her table, all the while pondering the strange vision she had. It had only felt like it lasted mere minutes, but, according to Akira, it had lasted almost six straight hours.

Sojiro set down the curry, kissing her on the forehead before heading back into the kitchen to manage the rest of the pot. As he passed Akira, he nodded, and Akira made his way to the table, placing one cup of coffee for Futaba and one for himself.

"Sojiro said that I can take care of you for the time being." He paused, taking a quick sip of coffee. By the time he had set down the cup, Futaba was already wolfing down the curry, taking short breaks to wash it down with some of the coffee. "Hungry now, are we?" Akira said, chuckling.

"Yeph phwee are," Futaba said, food still in her mouth. She swallowed and continued to eat at an almost alarming speed.

Akira had barely taken a few bites by the time Futaba had finished eating. He set his plate aside and began to speak. "Are you feeling any better?"

Futaba nodded in response. "I am. Still feeling a little chilly, though."

As Futaba stretched her arms out, Akira chuckled, complying to her wishes. He got up and sat down next to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders. "Warmer now?" he asked, kissing her on the cheek.

Futaba snuggled closer to the boy, blushing. "Yup. A lot warmer."

-=(+)=-

The couple enjoyed the next few hours at Leblanc, with Sojiro leaving early and letting Akira have some free time with Futaba. She never mentioned what happened that day, and Akira never pushed her for it. The rest of the rainy day was spent serving the occasional customer and playing video games in the attic. A date in the movies may have been expunged, but that wasn't enough to stop the two lovebirds.


End file.
